Cooperative or Competitive: Possible Roles of Learning Organizations in Lecturer Development in the TVES of Taiwan

In recent years, most junior colleges in the Technical and Vocational Education System have been upgraded to college level. New teachers hired in these colleges are all with doctorate degrees. However, the development of those lecturers without doctorate degrees has universally been ignored all along. Lecturers, who have not yet been promoted, are in urgent need of finding a way out of the pressure that comes from the rapidly changing environment, the evaluations imposed upon their teaching profession, and their peers. This study is to present possible pathways in which a learning organization can take shape and transform the TVES teaching faculty into learning teams with knowledge management. It also presents a proposal that those teachers with expertise in the field of their doctorate degrees may as well find time in their tight schedule, pursuing personal academic achievements and professional development, to lend a helping hand to these lecturers. As was stated by Brandenburger A. & Nalebuff, B. J., “Business is cooperative when it comes to creating a pie, but competitive when it comes to dividing it up.” When a department becomes a learning organization, the cooperative atmosphere encourages these lecturers rather than downgrades them, builds them up rather than overweighs their spirits, inspires them rather than rejects them, and fosters sharing rather than exploitations. In the academic circle where only the stronger survive, the bright side of human nature is hopefully to be seen.

Ying Ya Wen

Lecturer, Department of Applied Foreign LanguagesYunlin, Taiwan

Ying-ya Wen, also known as Yvonne, has translated more than ten books from English to Chinese since 1988; two of them were collaborated with other translators. No less than five of her short short stories were published in literary magazines, too. As a full-time lecturer of National Formosa University in Taiwan, she teaches A General Introduction to Western Literature and Introduction to Translation in the Department of Applied Foreign Languages. She also offered Selected Short Poems and Origins of Western Civilization in the Center of General Education, NFU. Her recent research interests are mainly on creative teaching methods and course design. She wrote articles on information literacy and ethics as well.